How to Presume
by wintry
Summary: Everything looked the same when seen through blind eyes. RaenefEclipse, shounen-ai.
1. Chapter One

A/N: First off, I don't own Demon Diary or its characters in any way, shape or form. I

don't even own a single copy of the manwha. Sad, isn't it?

Anyway.

Demon Diary. I fell in love with this manwha, what else can I say? Fanfic is a natural progression from obsession- you know, right there after multiple readings and a few slots before cosplay...and although this appears to be my first anime fanfic, your eyes are deceived, my friend! My beta foureyedbookworm and I have started up an Inuyasha collaboration which is, as of now, still not posted. Hopefully, we'll pick up speed with that soon. This is a mini project of mine. If I actually get this posted, it'll be nothing short of a miracle. .

Hope you enjoy, and, as usual, reviews are greatly appreciated. All quotes are from one of my favorite poems, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T. S. Eliot.

**How to Presume**

_No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;   
Am an attendant lord, one that will do   
To swell a progress, start a scene or two,   
Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,   
Deferential, glad to be of use,   
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;   
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;   
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous--   
Almost, at times, the Fool._

Chapter One: _'I Have Seen the Moment of My Greatness Flicker'_

The castle had become dusty after years of disuse, unpleasantly cold in the evenings and more sinister than it had been before. People had taken to labeling the abandoned property as 'haunted', which happened to most places after any decent period of inactivity. When three years in the castle had passed without so much as a visit from the Demon Lord and his servant, most people felt the title was justified.

The local boys had made visiting the haunted castle something of a dare. Of course, not one of them had yet gotten the courage to do it. They'd tease each other and brag about nighttime expeditions in the castle's halls, but it was an unspoken truth that nobody had been there, really, and besides- their mothers would all kill them if they set foot in the place. It was a fact of life that was simply understood.

Occasionally, the castle and its masters were brought up and discussed when the housewives, out by the river with the week's wash, met to gossip. One of the demons- tall, with long dark hair- had certainly been handsome. It was still disputed whether he or the boy was the true Demon Lord.

Time passed and, in the village, life changed and wearily ground on, while the castle stood untouched. No one seemed to think the two would ever return.

The rumor appeared late one night at the local pub. The usual customers were there, village men resting after a long day of work, but there was also a stranger. His cloak trailed puddles when he stepped out of the rain, but no one missed the rich fabric it was cut from. His boots were shaped from fine, supple leather, and the hand that gestured for the bartender gleamed with signet rings and gold bangles.

"Ugh. I absolutely refuse to believe that _this_ is your finest wine." The stranger set down his wineglass and studied its contents with a look of vague disgust. On the other side of the counter, the bartender appeared stricken and more than a little alarmed.

"P-p-pardon, milord, I only-"

"If you're not going to serve me properly," the man interrupted, "-at the very least allow me to speak my piece. I came here with news, after all."

By then, all conversations had lapsed suspiciously into companionable silence. Nothing could be heard but the rain tapping patiently at the East windows. The stranger seemed pleased by this, and went on.

"I came a long way to tell you this tonight. Listen well. The mountaintop castle has been empty for three years now, yes? But now, very soon, it will be abandoned no longer. Maybe even tonight, if you're lucky.

"The Demon Lord Raenef V will be returning shortly to his realm."

There, he stopped for emphasis, waiting for an uproar. He was met with blank stares.

"What? You don't believe me?" Offended, he stood up to leave in an appropriate huff of dignified fury.

Immediately, the crowd protested - the bartender apologized profusely, and a few men offered to bring him better wine from their own cellars. Smiling into one well-manicured hand, he returned to his seat.

"Well," he announced, settling himself against the bar. An eager audience surrounded him- a bit coarse for his tastes, but good enough for the purpose he had in mind. "Where would you like for me to start?"

The rain was getting heavier across town. Out where the village intersected the main road, the two travelers looked more like blurred shadows than a Demon Lord and his servant as they entered town.

"We're almost there! I can nearly see the castle from here." Raenef shifted the weight of his teacher's arm more solidly around his shoulder with a cheer.

Eclipse, as usual, didn't reply. His protests had stopped hours ago and since then, he had spoken as little as possible. There was no use in making himself weaker than he already was.

For such a skinny boy, Raenef had shown surprising strength. During the past few days, he had been supporting most of Eclipse's weight, and the last two hours had been spent wallowing through the rain. How the boy still managed to keep his spirits up was beyond reason.

"Once I see the castle, I should be able to transport us over there, right, Eclipse?"

"That's right, Master Raenef." He inhaled sharply...traveling was painful.

A cripple- that was what he was reduced to. There was no excuse for relying on his master like this, and he had explained this repeatedly to Raenef. Yet the fool had still refused to leave him behind.

"Do you need to rest, Eclipse? We can stop for awhile if you want," Raenef panted, again shifting his grip. "There's a tree over there-"

"No." Truthfully, he was feeling a bit faint. Any other time he would've agreed to rest; but now, so close to the castle, it was better to keep moving.

Slowly, they limped through the village. "I don't think it's changed much since we left. At least it doesn't look like it. I wonder how Leeche is doing, here. How old would she be now?"

"Don't want to talk about her," Eclipse replied heavily.

Raenef, seeing the expression on his face, laughed; the bright sound managed to cut through the heavy rain, and it startled Eclipse. He felt odd, being pleased to hear that laugh. Lately, he'd found it difficult to focus on anything but his sudden weakness.

"Sorry, Eclipse, that was hypothetical." Suddenly, he became concerned. Eclipse felt Raenef take his hand. "Don't over-work yourself, okay? You shouldn't speak too much. And I shouldn't be making you talk. I know it hurts."

"I'm fine." _Strange_, he thought to himself wryly. _No matter how many times you insist that, it never once becomes the truth._

Once the castle was in view, just visible through the heavy rain, it was a simple matter for them to get there. Normally, a demon could transport himself anywhere he could visualize in his mind; with the location in mind, all he would need would be to speak the 'Go' command, and he would be appear there instantly.

Eclipse had not been the only one affected by the battle, though he had taken the brunt of the damage. Both of them were drained of most of their magic- Eclipse had so little, he could do little to nothing with it. Raenef, however, had still had some power remaining in the battle's aftermath. Eclipse remembered telling him exactly that while lying wounded in the hot Southern sun.

_"You have just enough to take us back to the castle." Eclipse forced the words out through clenched teeth. He pressed one hand against his injured left side- the other covered his eyes. "Try now, Master Raenef."_

_Raenef nodded. His hands were cold and obviously shaking where they supported Eclipse's head; the blood on them seemed uncomfortably hot in comparison, and sticky. He reached down and wrapped one protective arm carefully around Eclipse's torso._

_Despite his master's caution, Eclipse bit his tongue hard enough to taste blood in his mouth...then again, that might have already been there from before. Times where his memory failed were few and far between, but this was one of them; there was blood everywhere and the sharp smell of copper distorted his senses.  _

_He didn't dare close his eyes. _

_"It's not working...it's not..." Raenef's increasingly frantic mumbling brought him back into focus. "Eclipse...why isn't it _working_!?__ Is there something wrong with me? Did I do something wrong again? I bet I did. This is my fault, I can't believe I'm such-" _

_Eclipse grasped around for Raenef's hand and managed to catch hold of it. The babbling stopped, then. But the trembling only became worse. "Stop. Master Raenef, please. Calm down, or you'll exhaust yourself."_

_"Eclipse-!"__ Raenef tried to start again, desperate. Again, Eclipse interrupted him._

_"Master, you must listen to me." Eclipse squeezed the hand harder, and Raenef made a faint, worried noise in the back of his throat. "You can put my head down now. I'll be fine."_

_"Of course you're not fine!" _

_"Master Raenef, put my head down. Go on. Go back to the castle." It was like cajoling a puppy to let go of its favorite toy, in a way. 'Let go, go on, now, there's go a good boy' He almost smiled, but that would have been foolish. Now wasn't the time to be remembering how unlike a Demon Lord his master was. _

_"What? Eclipse, we can't, I couldn't get my magic to work."_

_"It could be that, if..." he said softly. He began to pry away Raenef's fingers from his side, very gently, and eased himself out of his master's arms. Raenef, somewhat shocked, did nothing to stop him- it was still difficult, and his thoughts became disconnected again...He could hear Raenef beginning to cry as he began to realize what Eclipse meant for him to do, but he sounded very, very far away. _

_"No, I won't, I won't let you-"_

_"If you went alone..."_

_"I won't!"_

_"You could make it then. Transporting two is more difficult that just yourself...I...don't have the magic to-"_

_"I order you to stop it, Eclipse!" His shout startled them both. Eclipse had begun to let go of his hand, but furiously, Raenef gripped it tighter. "How can you even...I- I won't let you stay here and...and die!" _

_Shaken after his outburst, Raenef finally stopped holding back and began to sob. _

_Eclipse said nothing, listening for a while to the sound. Yes, he remembered at the worse moments- his master was no Demon Lord. He was little more than a child, really, and now he was much like a frightened little boy who had done something terribly wrong. His snuffling, hysterical tears were more than enough evidence of that. _

_I have already forgiven you, he thought. I would have everything back as it was, if I could. But you will never forgive yourself._

_After some time, Eclipse released Raenef's hand. The boy meant to protest, but Eclipse spoke before he had the time to. _

_"Let me rest a bit, Master Raenef. It will be a very long walk."_

As it was, the journey had been more than a long walk. Pulhel was a good five thousand miles south of the castle, at best, and the two had found themselves in the desert just south of the city. No, Eclipse remembered wryly. It had been anything _but _a pleasant stroll.

They had been gone for three years and, in the castle, it certainly showed.

"I guess we're in my room, Eclipse. Gosh, there's so much dust..." Raenef's room- well, that made sense. His own bedroom was probably what the boy could visualize best. Eclipse had expected to find himself in his own room, but now he realized that Raenef had never seen it...and he himself would never see it again.

There was probably very little difference between the two rooms, at this point. He shook his head faintly. It shouldn't have mattered.

Raenef led him over to the bed, tripping once in the dark on a forgotten trunk so that they both nearly fell over, but soon he had gotten Eclipse settled down on top of the bedcovers. A cloud of dust rose up and settled on them, making Raenef sneeze.

"You'll be all right?" he asked anxiously. He brushed some more dust off the headboard, and sneezed yet again. 

Eclipse smiled. "It's good to be home, isn't it, Master Raenef?"

Even though he couldn't see it, Eclipse could hear the smile in Raenef's voice. "Of course! We've got so much to do, though. The first thing I need to do is call in a healer for you, and then-" He sneezed. "I'm going to get rid of some of this dust."

"I'd rather you not. If you remember the last time you tried to dust..."

Raenef huffed. "I'll get Chris to come help me then. He's good at that cleaning stuff."

Chris? Eclipse thought of the arrogant little cleric, amused. "Master Raenef, Chris is now the High Cleric."

"Eh? Does that mean he can't come over anymore?" asked Raenef, puzzled. Eclipse sometimes wondered if that innocence was feigned- Raenef was whole now, after all, and he was much more powerful than he seemed sometimes. But times like these reminded him that he was probably wrong to think so.

"I don't know, Master Raenef. Maybe tomorrow I could tell you. Go rest now."

"You're the one who should be resting," said Raenef guiltily. He sneezed one last time before Eclipse could hear his footsteps retreating to a futon that, he remembered, was at the far side of the room. "First thing tomorrow, I'm getting that healer. You'll be fine. I'll get you fixed, I promise, Eclipse."

By the time Eclipse was prepared to reply, Raenef's breathing was deep and even. He was obviously asleep. There was no other sound in the castle except for the distant sound of rain.

Eclipse closed his eyes. The sight he saw there was no different from what he saw when he woke in the morning, and could feel the sun on his back. It was no different than what he saw on a snowy evening, or on a cool spring night when the moon was huge in the sky.

All he had seen for years, now, was darkness. In his mind, he could visualize the room and the castle- but everything looked the same when seen through blind eyes.

He fell into a deadened, dreamless sleep.


	2. Chapter Two

A/N: I don't own Demon Diary. I'm not yet delusional enough to think I do. Soon enough, my friends, soon enough.

Anyway.

Everyone- thank you for the absolutely lovely reviews. Aww, you shouldn't have. Actually, ignore that last part. Reviews make Wintry a happy, happy girl, even if they make her want to write when she should be studying for finals...--;; Ah well, I have labored on this latest chapter despite Massive Need to Study and the icky end of the school year things that go on. I'm going to be away for quite some time this summer (Las Vegas, Virginia, and then Otakon- I'll be cosplaying Raenef!) so I'll try to get as much done as I can before then.

In the meantime, I think all you Rae/Eclipse shippers should like the end of this chapter. I never expected to get all that started so early in the fic... ;; Enjoy, though.

Love to: SnakeMistress, hm, ziggy pop eno, Lethe Seraph, Vampy-Chan, Spooky Mitsuko, God of Insanity, DaughterofDeath, Silverlie, and The Firebird!

**How to Presume**

_The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes   
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes   
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening.   
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains.   
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys.   
Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,   
And seeing that it was a soft October night,   
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep. _

Chapter Two: '_The Eyes That Fix You in a Formulated Phrase'_

_He fell into a deadened, dreamless sleep. _

"Dreamless sleep, hmm? I'll be the one to decide whether your sleep is dreamless or not, old friend."

Finished with his business at the local pub, Lord Krayon had retired back to his realm. Amid the shifting outlines and impossibly tall columns of the dream world, he lounged upon his gilded throne. In one hand he held a half-eaten apple; a flat glass stone rested in the palm of the other.

As he worked his way through the apple, Krayon studied the surface of the stone. Two other stones rested on the table at his right hand. While his Seeing Stones themselves were nothing but clear glass, each of them, when in use, showed a different scene. The stone he held currently gave him a view of Eclipse as he slept.

It would be ten minutes, at least, before Eclipse passed through the first stage of sleep and into the second. It was then that demons were most open to dreams- not so with humans, but then, demons were different from humans in a thousand small ways.

Over the years, this had only become clearer. Krayon had found that most demons slept longer hours than humans, but most slept very lightly- by nature they were more alert and sensitive to their surroundings. As a result, they dreamt early in the sleep cycle and their dreams were always vivid, almost real. Those powerful enough could manipulate their own dreams, or choose when they wished to dream. Those who could travel through dreams without Krayon's permission were still more powerful- and only Lord Krayon himself could pull the unsuspecting into waking dreams.

The other powers- dream walking, manipulation, and the like- he accomplished with the flick of a finger.

Krayon sighed deeply before setting the Seeing Stone aside. Sometime during the night, he had picked up a migraine. Powerful as he was, there was still nothing he could do about those damnable headaches.

Rubbing his right temple, he reached for a second Seeing Stone. If anything could cure his migraine, it was the sight of his ladylove. Ah, Erutis. He smiled fondly at the stone, stroking the smooth class with one finger absentmindedly. She, too, was about to sleep. Hair haloed around her head the pillow, fingers curled with delicate grace on the hem of her quilt- woe was he, that he could not spend his every moment in the sweet glow of her presence.

Never mind that she had threatened to, well, shave her head, throw her sword into the deepest lake she could find, and join Chris as a cleric if Krayon set so much as a eyelash in that aforementioned glow. He'd then told her that his love knew no bounds, and that he would love her even if she did become a hairless, preaching, wimp of a cleric, but she hadn't seemed too pleased with that either.

Even so, he'd avoided her a bit lately. It had been a little more than four years since he had first proclaimed his undying devotion for his swordswoman. Since then, he had managed to put her in a position of power, put a solid roof over her head, and settle her into a comfortable lifestyle. And never once had she shown any affection towards him in return. She had never even thanked him. Never once.

He didn't mind all that much, exactly, but Krayon was beginning to feel impatient. He took whatever he desired, that was true- but stealing her heart was less than easy. Four years was ridiculous. Four years- he couldn't be expected to wait _forever_, could he? So he was getting impatient, and impatience truly annoyed him because, really, a Demon Lord was supposed to know exactly how to get what he wanted, when he wanted it, and how he wanted it. As one of the eldest, he'd thought that he'd perfected the art, down to a T.

Apparently not.

And so, it was time for more _extreme _measures. Krayon took one last bite of his apple and tossed it over his back- when it hit the floor, the core instantly disappeared. Things came easily to him in the dream realm. That was why the first stage of his plan would begin here, within his own territory.

"Sleep soundly while you can Eclipse." He laughed, a light sound that, once echoed through the halls, became strangely sinister. He winced. A familiar throb had started up again at his temples and the bridge of his nose. Laughing made his migraine worse. Well, that could be fixed. He stood up, Erutis's Seeing Stone still in hand, and as he whirled off to prepare for his task, he hummed tunelessly and gazed at his sleeping love as he waltzed.

"Let us go then, you and I."

There were cherry blossoms on the air, a late bloom perhaps. Somewhere distant, a flock of geese trumpeted in chorus as they passed overhead, and a spring ran nearby- he could hear the bubbling water clearly when he listened for it. During the past few years, he had learned to rely closely on his other senses to gain some awareness of a place. Wherever he was, it was someplace terribly familiar.

Eyes closed tightly, Eclipse racked his mind for some memory. Yes, he could recall this place, but he couldn't pinpoint it. He was so sure- he had been here before, heard those geese calling, smelled the cherry blossoms, sat by the stream with...

Suddenly, he had it. Eclipse opened his eyes in wonder- only to find, in a rush of realization, that none of this was real.

It was only a dream.

His homeland was exactly as it had been in the early autumns of his childhood. He sat in the wooded garden that surrounded his mother's castle. The pebbled pathway lined with ferns still wound parallel to the stream, a trickle of water that became a river as it journeyed down the mountainside- the cherry trees still spread their arms above the water and linked hands with the tall forest pines that stood on the opposite side. A bed of thick green moss covered the banks of the stream; he remembered playing there before he was old enough to talk.

He was faced with a bright light after living in darkness and it blinded him. After a moment, he was forced to close his eyes against it, and kept them closed. None of this was real, Eclipse reminded himself, no matter what his senses told him. He could only see again in his dreams.

The wind picked up, and when he opened his eyes, the forest around him turned to colored sand and was swept away in a whirlwind. The sand became a desert, or a memory of a desert- the searing heat and the landscape that climbed and shifted before his eyes were all too familiar. Within seconds, all the coolness of the forest had vanished and he was tossed into a place he had hoped to forget. His mouth and throat grew painfully dry as he waited. He knew what would happen next.

How many times would the nightmare come to haunt him?

Out of the sandstorm, a figure emerged, tinted in same matte gold as the landscape that surrendered him. He came nearer, nearer, until he was near enough that Eclipse could count his faltering steps. Several times he stopped, hesitant to go on, and once he even made to turn back, before shaking his head and returning to his original path.

_He'll stumble next_, thought Eclipse, frozen. One hundred yards away, he did- the figure fell to his knees and did not move for some time, until Eclipse couldn't help but think he was weeping, or had fainted from exhaustion. Worry clouded Eclipse's thoughts, a sort of smothering pressure in his chest that wouldn't go away, though he already knew that the figure was fine, and at any moment he would rise again.

He always recovered awhile later than Eclipse remembered. Each time Eclipse resisted the urge to run towards him in concern.

Nearer and nearer. Eclipse's eyes stung from the flying sand; shielding them didn't help at all and never had. Inevitably, he tried, and as the figure drew closer, close enough to reach out for and touch-

It was always a shock to recognize that face.

But- the expression, those eyes, darkened almost beyond recognition, but not quite foreign, no, that would've been too kind a mercy- it was like a dozen needles through the heart.

The enemy smiled back at him through those eyes.

Eclipse couldn't move as the stranger approached, because he was truly a wolf in sheep's clothing. The boy smiled at him, a thin, starved smile.

"I've found you, Eclipse. Don't say you weren't hiding. Even if you didn't on purpose, you know you wanted to avoid me. Am I right? Because I've changed like this, and you don't like it." His expression changed to a mockery of the boy Eclipse served, a caricature- wide eyes and trembling mouth. "I don't understand, Eclipse. You- you don't like me anymore? Did I do something wrong?"

_He'll taunt me like this for awhile, and then- _thought Eclipse, still frozen in dread, ready to shade his eyes in fear- _then, he'll walk back a few steps and-_

The stranger, the fake, did not walk back this time, but pushed forward. He slid his lying hands across the soft skin below Eclipse's jawbone, and teased the dark hair at the base of Eclipse's neck. Soon, he had gotten too near, his body- Eclipse inhaled sharply- his body just brushing, practically taunting Eclipse, and this was not the dream he had had so many times. It was an entirely different nightmare, but Eclipse didn't think of this as he felt the stranger's hot breath on his neck, moving up his chin, to his shocked, parted lips- his only thought, again and again, was _This is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong..._

"I'm sorry," Raenef breathed before he kissed him.

His tone of voice made Eclipse sick.


End file.
